Only for the meritorious

It is nothing new that the territory of FRY and neighboring countries (above all Albania and Macedonia) is one of the main links in drug trafficking.  For a list of geopolitical reasons this region was always suited to heroin trafficking, a drug which is grown and manufactured in the wide “Golden Belt” which stretches from Thailand to Bulgaria, and which is consumed in the West.  However, what is surprising is that since the beginning of this year, on several occasions the police captured bigger quantities of cocaine, a drug which is produced exclusively in South America and which became popular in Europe only several years ago.  And while in the first case what was at issue was a relatively clumsy attempt at smuggling with ordinary mail envelopes (Vreme wrote about it), the new discovery points to a serious and complex operation which is probably part of a far bigger chain, the quantity being such that it could supply the weekly consumption of a bigger metropolis.

At first glance, it seems illogical that a package from the distant Andes travels to its West European destination via the former Yugoslavia and its immediate neighbors.  The explanation this time has nothing to do with geography, but with the political climate.  Namely, the traditional links for cocaine trafficking, big harbors such as Marseille, Rotterdam, and Hamburg, have been “busted” a long time ago, and everything that comes from Bolivia, Columbia, and similar countries is under close watch not only from local authorities, but also from international organizations for drug control.  That is why it is more convenient to bring cocaine into the European Union through the back door, through channels which are otherwise used for heroin trafficking.  Besides that, our country, like the majority of our neighbors, is known for its corrupt authorities who are prone to state smuggling, and bad relations between neighbors ensure the absence of a coordinated effort to curb trafficking.

There is one more reason why Yugoslavia is particularly convenient for the trafficking of cocaine: what is at issue is a drug whose use is on the rise in Russia since recently, where it is being used by the nouveau riche as a kind of status symbol.  Namely, cocaine is more expensive than heroine and fits in very well with the famous “four P’s” (pistol, pager, Pajero, and pussy cat) of the new social class.  That is why the cocaine channels fork out in three directions from Yugoslavia: one toward Northwestern Europe (Germany and Holland), one toward Central and Northern Europe (France and Spain), and the third toward the former USSR.  In Yugoslavia itself, the same kinds of people use cocaine as in Russia, but this group of people is too small to represent an actual market, so that local use includes far more heroine, “the paupers drug” which is used even in the smallest towns.

Given the above listed “advantages”, there is no question that the police will have dealings in the future with these kinds of surprises, the more so since it seems that there is little hope that through organized control of trafficking and corruption our highways will be less accessible to this kind of “rich man’s folly”.